How small a repertoire can a pianist get away with having?
I know Michelangeli was famous for his smaller repertoire but he seemed to get away with it because of the ‘perfection’ in his playing.
But might it be true that the perfection was due in large part to him focusing so much on a smaller rep instead of spreading himself thin like most modern pianists do?
Well, Horowitz from the 60’s on… limited his rep to one solo prog a season and no concerti.
That said, he had a YUUUUUGE rep n cock by da time he was 20.
Barere had a rather small solo repertoire, and he only played da Liszt 1, Tchaik 1, Rach 2, Rach 3 (reportedly) n Grieg (fuck) wiz orch.
Maybe Gelber. I’ve been at him a little here over the summer, and you reach the bottom of the flask pretty quickly. I’ve also been to surprised to see that he often doesn’t just recycle works, but entire programs. If a program has Schumann’s Op.13 on them for instance, it’s likely to be surrounded by the exact same pieces as when he last played it!
Lazar Berman was pretty much playing the same recital program over and over again in his late years.
Every time I’ve see Andre Watts booked for a concert in the last decade or so, it was the Rach PC 2.
Then there is Jerry DiSalvo and the Saint Saens PC 2, the only concerto he knows…
However, in his prime, da bear had a massive…rep
Imho there is nothing wrong with learning one new solo 90 min program per season and playing it well…
Of course not, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Helene Grimaud basically played the same programme for the past 4 years and her concerto choices are invariable Ravel G major or Beethoven G major. Although now that she’s got a new disc out, presumably she will tour with a new programme.
What was her solo rep the past 4 years?
Whatever it was when I saw her in Jan 2015, some “water” programme which included Berio’s Wasserklavier, Ravel Jeux d’eau, Liszt Jeux d’eaux, some Japanese composer and a Brahms sonata. I can’t remember the rest. Last year she played in Paris with virtually the exact same programme. Now that she has a new programme (which is pretty interesting), she isn’t even playing it in Paris.
Mikhail makes a great point though. I don’t want any pianist to tour with more than one recital program - if they keep more active I know the quality won’t be what it could have been. It’s impressive with pianists who can keep 5 recital programs active at the same time of course, but that energy would have been better invested in the quality of a single one of them instead.
Seems to work out all right for Levit and Schiff, though generally I agree. Grosvenor recently toured Australia with a selection from the two programmes I heard him in last year.
Yes, that is really smart - have basically two programs and mix and match to stay fresh.
Grimaud’s new program looks like this:
===================================================
Recital (new season programme)
Valentin Silvestrov Bagatelle I
Claude Debussy Arabesque no. 1
Valentin Silvestrov Bagatelle II
Erik Satie Gnossienne no. 4
Frederic Chopin Nocturne no.19 in E minor opus 72 no. 1
Erik Satie Gnossienne no. 1
Erik Satie Six pieces froides IV – Danses de travers no. 1 / En y regardant à deux fois
Claude Debussy La plus que lente
Frederic Chopin Mazurka opus 17 no. 4 in A minor
Frederic Chopin Waltz no. 3 opus 34 no. 2 in A minor
Claude Debussy Clair de lune from Suite bergamasque
Claude Debussy Reverie
Erik Satie Six pieces froides V – Danses de travers no. 2 / “Passer”
—
Rachmaninov Sonata no. 2
===================================================
I think there’s a fair amount of recycling even here though. I don’t keep track of her, but the repertoire (minus Satie & Silvestrov) looks very familiar.
Could be. The Rachmaninoff she’s played since her teens. The rest seems to follow her new disc. I’d definitely attend this recital if she played it here.
If she’s going the patriotic French prog style route…why not just prog the Alkan concerto? 
Instead of Satie?
Well… 
Playing Satie is for lazy cunts
Nicolas Horvath played 6 hours of it at the Philharmonie last Saturday night for Nuit Blanche.
But then there are freaks like Richter, who seemed to have 20 programs worth of different material on the go throughout the year with no discernible drop in quality. There are some years in Richter’s career where I’d estimate he performed 40-60 hours worth of music. I’ve never actually counted, but I’d be surprise if I’m over-estimating.
Yeah, plus new rep added every year.
Jeez. Da most impressive is the 40’s and 50’s where he built up his rep… da Bach complete WTC etc…
Wtf
Plus da 1960 American tour wuz inzane
Attendance figures?